American teens who vowed to ‘save’ Glasgow stop after abuse

THE AMERICAN teens who pledged to “turn the situation around” for Glasgow by volunteering in the city’s “industrial wastelands” appear to have given up after a tide of ridicule from angry Scots.

In February Aina Rivas, 19, and Ferrán Rivas, 17, uploaded a glossy video in an attempt to raise cash for their two week trip to Glasgow later this year.

The video outlined their involvement with a volunteering group called Hope Scouts - and how they hope to provide a “cleaning and reconstruction effort for one of Glasgow’s industrial wastelands”.

It also proclaimed that they would “participate with local youth, sharing a message of hope and goodwill with energy and enthusiasm”. According to them “this could turn the situation around” for Glasgow.

Their video went viral last week, as it was circulated among incredulous Scots - keen to point out that Glasgow is hardly in need of international aid.

And now both their crowdfunding page and the video appear to have been taken offline in the face of the harsh reaction.

Their “Siblings for Hope” video for the campaign to raise $4,000 for their trip was available for all to view on Friday, but this morning had been set to “private”. However, someone has reuploaded the video on YouTube.

Their crowdfunder page is also no longer accessible.

In the video - in which they pronounced Glasgow “Glass-cow” - the pair spoke over emotional piano music of the kind usually found in charity adverts appealing for donations.

The video opened with Aina saying: “We are volunteers, and as far as we can remember we have been serving our community.

“Currently we are a part of Hope Scouts, which is a group that encourages young people to serve.

Ferrán chimes in: “The UK is one of the richest countries in Europe and would appear needless and self-sustaining, however Glasgow proves that wrong.

“You probably haven’t heard of the Glasgow effect. Scientists have tried to explain this saying that high levels of poverty, high levels of stress and a culture of alienation and pessimism could have led to this.

“It is alarming that nowadays one third of all children in the city are estimated to be living in poverty.”

He neglected to mention that one third of children in Fort Lauderdale - where he is from - are also living below the poverty line.

Aina adds: “This where Hope Youth Corp comes in - we’ll be part of a cleaning and industrial effort for one of Glasgow’s industrial wastelands.

“But more importantly we will participate with local youth, sharing a message of hope and goodwill with energy and enthusiasm. This could turn the situation around.”

They then appealed for viewers to pledge cash, having so far raised $1,200 for their “life-changing effort”.

But reaction from Scots has suggested that the pair may be less-than-welcome when they turn up in June.

One angry Youtube commenter said: “Aye come to Glasgow and we’ll set about ye. Bring that Trump f***y with yous.”

Another mocked their pronunciation of the city, posting simply: “GLASS-COW!”

Reacting to the disappearance of the video and funding page, one social media user said: “Looks like the Go Fund Me has been cancelled now.”